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Cyclones are
dangerous!
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Cyclones are dangerous!
While it is true that some cyclones may do little more than generate strong gales and torrential rains, every year powerful cyclones bring destruction to some coastal communities in tropical regions, causing billions of dollars of damage to both public infrastructure and private dwellings, and costing many lives.
Before a cyclone approaches your area, ensure you read and understand the cyclone awareness information available from your local government authorities and/or any agency responsible for cyclone warnings in your area - for example the Surviving Cyclones brochure published by the Australian Bureau of Meteorology.
When a cyclone poses a threat to your area,
listen to your local radio station and/or the visit website
of your local cyclone warning agency for the latest
warnings - some websites are listed below.
Links to Tropical Cyclone
information for the South Pacific
:
Fiji Met
Services : Summary.
Joint Typhoon Warning
Center
Brisbane
Tropical Cyclone Warning Centre
New Zealand
Met :
Warnings.
Samoa Meteorology
Division - Apia
NWS Pago
Pago
CIMSS
Satellite Images : SW Pacific : (
WV,
IR,
Enh), SE Pacific: (
WV,
IR,
Enh)
Tropical
Storms Worldwide - Hawaii :
SW Pacific Map,
SE Pacific Map.
My Current Cyclone Information
page also has links to warnings, maps, and satellite images
of all current cyclones worldwide, however it can become
out of date at times, so it is wise to check with your
local cyclone warning agency if under a direct threat.
Winds around a tropical cyclone
A tropical cyclone is a more or less circular rotating storm
system of tropical origin with gale force or stronger
winds.
Cyclones vary greatly in extent, with the area effected by
gale force or stronger winds ranging from small compact systems
less than 100km (60 miles) in diameter to huge systems that
may be more than 1000km (600 miles) in diameter.

The extent of a cyclone has no relationship to it's
intensity - when Cyclone Tracy devastated Darwin in 1974
with winds of approx. 240 km/hr (150 mph) it was a very
small compact system approx. 50km (30 miles) in diameter.
The actual centre of a cyclone is usually calm or nearly
so, and this calm 'eye' area may be from less than 5km (3
miles) to more than 50km (30 miles) in diameter.
The most destructive winds are usually in a more or less
circular ring around the centre called the 'eyewall', and
this ring may be from a few kilometres (miles) to a few
dozen kilometres (tens of miles) in width
The destructive hurricane force wind zone around a large
cyclone may extend many dozens of kilometres (tens of miles)
out from the centre, while storm force winds and gales may
extend hundreds of kilometres (miles) out from
the centre.
Depending on environmental circumstances, the shape of the
wind field of a cyclone may vary from a well defined nearly
circular system to a quite elongated system with gales or
stronger winds extending many hundreds of kilometres (miles)
in a particular direction - cyclone warnings may indicate
this by giving wind strengths at different distances from
the centre in particular quadrants or semi-circles if this
is a significant issue.

You should note that if the eye of a cyclone passes over
your location, the suddenly calm conditions will soon give
way to destructive winds from a different direction, with
the length of the period of calm lasting anywhere from a
few minutes to several hours depending on the size of the
eye, the speed of the forward motion of the cyclone, and
how close the centre of the eye passes to your
location.
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Instructions and Information
Downloading Maps
To make downloading easy, the map headings and thumbnail images are each linked to the appropiate map.
Mac OS users
If veiwing thumbnail image or link: click and hold, choose
"Download..." or "Download to Disk..." as appropiate to your browser
from the pop-up menu.
If viewing full sized map image: click and hold, choose
"Save Image As..." or "Download to Disk..." as appropiate to your browser
from the pop-up menu.
Windows users
If veiwing thumbnail image or link: right-click and choose
"Save Target As" from pop-up menu.
If veiwing full sized map image: right-click and choose
"Save Picture As" from pop-up menu.
Plotting On The Maps
All maps are at a scale of 30 pixels per degree, and plotting dots are every 0.1° to enable easy plotting of cyclone positions as given in official Tropical Cyclone Warnings as issued by various agencies.
It should be noted that the actual position of the centre of the cyclone is only known this accurately when it has a well defined eye in satellite imagery or is within range of a radar ground station - in many cases there are uncertainties of perhaps a half degree, or even more at times.
Plotting SW Pacific Locations (west of 180° longitude)
The 0.1° positions as given by cyclone warning
agencies are represented on the map as the square
containing and to the lower right of the position as given
in the warning. For example, if a cyclone position is given
as "172.4E 16.3S" it would be located on
the map as shown by the red
block in the image below, also shown
enlarged for clarity:

Plotting SE Pacific Locations (east of 180° longitude)
The 0.1° positions as given by cyclone warning
agencies are represented on the map as the square
containing and to the lower left of the position as given
in the warning. For example, if a cyclone position is given
as "172.4W 16.3S" it would be located on
the map as shown by the red
block in the image below, also shown
enlarged for clarity:

Printing results may vary depending on the quality of your printer and it's associated software.
If you notice any errors or broken links, or feel extra maps and/or locations need to be added, please email me: carls@qldnet.com.au.
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